Saints-Giants Game Moved to Monday Night

this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; Saints-Giants game moved to Monday night
Associated Press
Posted: 11 minutes ago
NEW YORK (AP) - The Giants-Saints game, driven from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, will be played as part of a nationally televised doubleheader starting at 7:30 p.m. ...

NEW YORK (AP) - The Giants-Saints game, driven from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, will be played as part of a nationally televised doubleheader starting at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 19.

The game, already moved to the Giants' home in the New Jersey Meadowlands, will begin on ABC, then be switched to ESPN at 9 p.m., when ABC goes to the regularly scheduled game between Washington and Dallas in Irving, Texas. In New York and Louisiana, as well as other parts of the Gulf Coast, ABC will continue to carry the Giants-Saints game, switching to Redskins-Cowboys when the Saints game ends.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said other details, such as ticket sales, will be announced soon.

The Associated Press reports that the Week Two game featuring the Giants at the Saints . . . at the Meadowlands will be played as part of an unprecedented Monday night doubleheader, with the Giants-Saints game commencing at 7:30 p.m. EDT and the previously-scheduled Redskins-Cowboys matchup kicking off at 9:00.

For most of the country, ABC will carry the Giants-Saints until 9:00, when the game will be switched over to ESPN. In the home markets of the Giants and Saints, ABC will keep the game on until its conclusion, at which time ABC will join the Redskins-Cowboys game in progress.

In past years, "extra" Monday night games were played simultaneously with the previously scheduled matchups. In 1987, the World Series pushed the Broncos-Vikings game from Sunday to Monday night. A decade later, the World Series moved the Bears-Dolphins to Monday night. And in 2003, wildfires in Southern California pushed the Dolphins-Chargers game to Monday night -- in Arizona. In the latter two examples, the second game was made available through the DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket package.

Our guess is that the NFL plans to conduct a telethon of some type during the broadcast of the Giants-Saints game, repeatedly urging fans to donate money to the American Red Cross by phone or via the Internet.

As to the question of whether the Giants are receiving an unfair competitive advantage by virtue of an extra home game, Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said, "I'd be smart not to comment on that."

Translation: Hell yes, they are.

Though we recognize that issues of life and death continue to take precedence over matters of sport, we also think it's appropriate to acknowledge the obvious on this one. It really is unfair to the other teams in the NFC for the Giants to get a ninth home game, and we continue to believe that the NFL, the Giants, and the Saints fairly can be accused of selecting Giants Stadium in order to maximize profit unless, as we've recommended, every single dollar changing hands that night is given to the hurricane relief efforts.